How many students does your business currently employ?

17

How does your business employ students?

We use both

On average, how many hours do your student-workers work for your business per week?

10-15 hours

On average, how long do your students-workers stay with your business?

12-24 months

What are your motivations for signing up to the Good Student Employer Charter?

Stokes wants a diverse and vibrant workforce from the local community and students are significant part of this. We also want to indicate to the student body that we engage with students as we would any employee and look to offer them the same opportunities for development, pay and reward as any employee. If the aptitude and attitude is there, we are always keen to highlight that there are opportunities to work through a management pathway and acquire skills and experience other sectors simply do not offer individuals in the early stages of their career.
However long an employee is with us for, and whatever their longer-term plans, if they offer the skills, quality and positive, willing attitude we want them to develop and thrive. Ultimately this ensures excellence for our customers and colleagues, which is a win: win scenario. Students often show keenness to learn and acquire new skills which is a great starting point for us.

What do you feel will be the benefits of joining the Charter?

Clearer, reciprocal understanding of perspective and needs
Formalising the positive approach Stokes takes in working with students
Formalising the understood Stokes being a fair and supportive employer to all sections of the community

In your experience, what are the main advantages of hiring students?

Keenness to learn and acquire skills
Sociable and team players
Offer an alternative perspective/ fresh ideas

In your experience, what are the main challenges of hiring students?

The limited and changing timetable from course requirements
Not always available / want to stay in Lincoln / have accommodation to stay during busiest times eg Christmas and August
Not always have quality experience or skills- therefore attitude and willingness to learn and a personality is critical!
Seem to suffer a lot of anxiety from pressures of balancing life, study and work.

In your experience of hiring students, how could universities better prepare students for working in hospitality?

Help them understand the pressures and reality for businesses. Yes employers should work with great employees to retain staff, but we cannot train and embed staff if students suddenly advise of a change of timetable or that they are going home for Christmas etc. This also places pressures on the wider team and impacts morale. All employees, student or not, are expected to be flexible and consistently deliver to our standards.
The understanding to follow rules around presentation/ uniform/ timekeeping and absence and taking the role seriously, regardless of whether it is a long-term career/ not.
So students need to maximise the opportunity and ensure positive references/ skills development by being professional and treat it like a serious role that could enhance their wider/ long-term ambitions whether or not it is directly related to their studies.

What are your top tips for other employers who hire students?

Understand what the student is looking for in terms of hours and days.
Understand their motivation for taking on the role- money / skills development/ part of career development/ fits their studies etc
Check are they available during your peak work pressures.
Understand what their expectations are and put this into context / reality of the business to ensure there is a good / clear match
Be prepared to train
Ask what they enjoy most about the jobs they do and work to their strengths
Check in with them regularly
Understand their external pressures
Ensure they know there is an open door whether it’s line manager/ HR to talk about pressures and enquire how we could potentially help

How does your business allocate shifts for student-workers?

At hiring stage we ask for their availability and how many hours they need to work to afford to pay bills etc. We then work with that to offer the right contract level that they can fulfil and which matches our needs. They will usually get at least 2 weeks notice of shifts and we monitor hours each month to ensure all employees receive contractual hours and to check they are not excessive. If there is any imbalance we check in with the line managers to review and address.

How much advance notice of their shifts do your student-workers receive?

Usually at least 2 weeks

What remuneration do you offer for student-workers (per hour)?

Above minimum wage

Do your student workers generally have:

Stable weekly hours

What induction do your student-workers receive and what training opportunities does your business offer for them?

Students receive the same training as all employees: all roles have a structured induction which they are given at the start of employment, we have probation meetings and informal performance check-ins across the year and formal annual appraisal.
we cross train in our cafes so all receive 5 days of training shifts shadowing a team member, training at our barista academy and ongoing support day-to-day.
Should anyone show aptitude and the right attitude, we are always keen to internally promote and place team members on step-up management programmes.

Are student workers included in existing employee reward schemes?

Yes

If not, do you have any reward schemes in place for student-workers (e.g. bonuses)?

Generally, are your student-workers included in work socials and team-building activities?

Yes

How does your business ensure students feel part of the team at work?

They are treated exactly the same as employees: reward, pay, social gatherings, development is available on an equal footing

How does your business ensure your workers feel safe at work? Do you have any policies to protect your workers from sexual harassment and anti-social behaviour?

We do not have specific policies addressing anti-social behaviour and just sexual harassment but we have a have a harassment policy and we follow ACAS standards relating to such issues and the team are encouraged to report such matters to their management team and HR are a visible part of the business.
We are always clear, we will not tolerate abuse of staff, though instances and issues around this has not been a theme for the business but we would not make any assumptions around this.

What opportunities does your business offer students to give you feedback on their work experiences?

We have employee engagement surveys
We have an open door policy to management and HR and actively encourage feedback- fedback is taken at end of probation too.
We have annual appraisals
We have informal check in around performance to keep delivery on the right track
HR and senior management review data trends around turnover and review exit interview for themes too

How often do team leaders/managers catch up with students about their progress, aspirations, challenges and needs?

Yearly

What, if any, promotion and development opportunities does your business offer for students?

Students are offered the same opportunities as all employees to cross training, to apply for promotions and join a step up management programme.
We have customer service training as well as barista training, online GDPR, equality and health and safety and food safety training. If performance is not meeting expectations, a support programme is put together to fill gaps. From probation and appraisal meetings, personalised objectives are set to enhance skills to meet the role but also to consider development of wider career aspirations.

We already offer 5 shadow training shifts, set out the induction programme of activities at the start of probation / employment and cross train across skills. We also start with their strengths to improve confidence and then fill gaps and develop skills.

We do not differentiate and zero hour contracts are only usually offered at the request of individuals who want the flexibility of being able to say no to shift s without feeling the pressure of letting people down etc. We continue to use the same zero hour contractors as we restrict this pool and we need trained team members so we like to retain our team as we will have already invested in these individuals

We do not differentiate between employees and treat them less fairly because they are a student. They have access to the same pay, reward, training and revel opportunities and social interactions as all employees.

We already make it clear through our induction process that we expect all employees to be treated with respect and dignity (via employee handbook and online equality training should be completed) We could consider creating a much specific statement about sexual harassment and anti-social behaviour to be clearer of the intolerance of such behaviours.

We have recently introduced an annual employee engagement and satisfaction survey, which we hope would allow honest feedback. We could also look at specific questions directed at student experience to try to understand themes that may otherwise not come out.

All team members across the business are invited to company events. We try to rotate which days these are on and the type of activities offered to allow an option for all, regardless of situation.